Local Republicans opposed 'fiscal cliff' bill

January 2, 2013|By Mark K. Matthews, Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- As the saying goes, a good compromise leaves everyone unhappy.

But members of Central Florida's congressional delegation said the same could also be said of a bad compromise -- which is why most voted against a last-minute deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.

All four Republicans from the Orlando area opposed the deal, which passed the House late Tuesday night by a vote of 257-167, with 151 Republicans voting against it. The only local member to support the measure was Democrat U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown of Jacksonville -- and even she was unhappy.

"Let's just say that everyone thought [the negotiators] could have done a better job," said Brown, whose district includes parts of Orange and Seminole counties.

Specifically, Brown said she was disappointed that, under the deal, income taxes would rise only for families making more than $450,000. She had advocated a $250,000 cut-off so that the wealthy would pay a larger share.

The veteran legislator also objected that the bill did not renew a "temporary" reduction of the payroll tax that funds Social Security -- meaning 77 percent of U.S. households will pay more this year, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. A worker earning $50,000 will pay about $1,000 more.

"I don't know why the payroll tax was not extended for another year," Brown said. "That [would be] money right now into people's pockets."

Still, Brown said she ultimately backed it because "99 percent of the people won't get [an income] tax hike. And that's good."

Local Republicans, however, had little good to say about the bill, which also postponed looming federal spending cuts for two months.

U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden, termed it nothing more than a continuation of the status quo.

Left unaddressed, he said, were pressing questions on how to reduce the federal debt and deficit – and particularly what to do about entitlement programs such as Medicare, which he described as the "true drivers of our debt."

"If we could have just made some movement [toward that], I would have been happy. But they didn't do it," Webster said.

Meanwhile, fellow U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, said he agreed with the idea of raising taxes on the very wealthiest – which Republicans have long opposed -- but that the final bill didn't sufficiently cut federal spending.

"It just prolongs the important decisions," Posey said. "People have worn this term out, but it just kicks the can down the road."

Sounding almost like an angry constituent, Posey railed against Congress' dysfunction and the long work breaks that lawmakers take during election season.

"We have to get back to a more responsible way of dealing with budgets," said Posey, who urged his colleagues to immediately get to work on fiscal issues. "We have to start prioritizing what we need and what we can do without -- like every family has to do," he said.

U.S. Reps. Sandy Adams, R-Orlando, and John Mica, R-Winter Park, echoed that thought.

"We have to address our national debt and the drivers of our debt," said Adams, who leaves office today. "We have to show fiscal sanity."

The one thing both sides do seem to agree on is that Congress needs to do more to put people back to work. But they can't agree on how best to that -- with Democrats putting more faith in government programs and Republicans looking more toward the private sector.

"Rapid economic growth and spending reforms are the only way out of the real fiscal cliff our nation is facing," said U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, one of just eight senators to oppose the measure.

"But rapid economic growth and job creation will be made more difficult under the deal reached here in Washington," he added in a statement.